Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Dos and Don’ts of Ministry │ Msg 2-10

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The Dos and Don’ts of Ministry │ Msg 2-10 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Jesus predicted that the gates of Hades will not prevail
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Speaker 1: against the Church. But that's not to say the adversary
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Speaker 1: won't attack it any way he can. I've discovered that
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Speaker 1: one of the most devastating causes of erosion in the
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Speaker 1: Church has been the drift of pastures from the bold
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Speaker 1: proclamation of God's word. Many who step into pulpits today
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Speaker 1: do so reluctantly, sometimes even apologetically. It's as if they're
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Speaker 1: ashamed of their calling. You imagine that when I'll look
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Speaker 1: back over the past few decades, I find many solid
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Speaker 1: voices of men who fill pulpits. Not wild eyed, out
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Speaker 1: of balance fanatics, but intelligent, well read, careful, keen student
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Speaker 1: of holy scripture. These fine pastors faithfully spoke for God.
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Speaker 1: They stood for the truth, and they spent time on
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Speaker 1: their knees. But that was then. Today the ranks of
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Speaker 1: true and reliable expositors are embarrassingly thin. What does the
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Speaker 1: Bible say a pastors should be doing. My Bible is
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Speaker 1: open to First Timothy, chapter one, and I'll begin reading
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Speaker 1: at verse five. Listen carefully, But the goal of our
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Speaker 1: instruction is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience,
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Speaker 1: and a sincere faith. For some men straying from these things,
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Speaker 1: have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers
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Speaker 1: of the law, even though they do not understand either
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Speaker 1: what they are saying or the matters about which they
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Speaker 1: make confidence assertions. And now Verses eighteen and nineteen. This
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Speaker 1: command I entrust to you, Timothy my Son, in accordance
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Speaker 1: with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them
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Speaker 1: you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience,
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Speaker 1: which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to
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Speaker 1: their faith. It may surprise you to hear me say this,
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Speaker 1: but I am of the impression that of all of
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Speaker 1: the professions that one might enter, perhaps the most confusing
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Speaker 1: today is the ministry. A way to illustrate that would
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Speaker 1: be by way of contrast, if a person has finished
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Speaker 1: his or her work as a physician, hanging out a
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Speaker 1: shingle and beginning to practice medicine is not that complicated.
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Speaker 1: It's certainly is not that difficult to describe. Practicing good
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Speaker 1: medicine is a science that has learned over the years
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Speaker 1: of training, hard work, and when one begins to do
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Speaker 1: so in a practical way, most of us could pretty
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Speaker 1: well describe in a simple fashion the job description of
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Speaker 1: the physician who begins to practice medicine. Thus, the similar
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Speaker 1: thing could be said of an attorney. The work is done,
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Speaker 1: the bar is passed, the job is spelled out rather
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Speaker 1: clearly for this individual who has specialized in a particular
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Speaker 1: phase of law, and that individual man or woman begins
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Speaker 1: to do so, first in a small practice or perhaps
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Speaker 1: with a group, and then by and by, if he
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Speaker 1: is so led to do it on his own, practicing
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Speaker 1: law is not that complicated. Same could be said of
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Speaker 1: a CPA. The education gets out of the way, the
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Speaker 1: work is finished enough, practical jobs are taken care of,
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Speaker 1: so that the person begins to gain confidence and skill
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Speaker 1: and carrying out the job of a certified public accountant.
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Speaker 1: Passes that very difficult test, then, in the process of time,
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Speaker 1: develops a practice and carries out the job of working
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Speaker 1: in the field of finance. But it isn't like that
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Speaker 1: for the minister, and most of you have never stopped
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Speaker 1: to think about that. To enter into the ministry is
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Speaker 1: to step into a whole million of things about which
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Speaker 1: people have high and great and often muddy in confusing expectations.
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Speaker 1: It is frequently related to the former minister of a
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Speaker 1: particular church that a young man might begin, or it's
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Speaker 1: often related to a culture which might be unusual to
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Speaker 1: the fellow who has trained in one area of the country,
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Speaker 1: but God calls him to another, and ministry is not
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Speaker 1: the same at all across the country, to say nothing
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Speaker 1: of around the world. And then there are so many
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Speaker 1: things being rethought in the whole field of theology, so
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Speaker 1: many things being written, so many voices, so many alleged
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Speaker 1: authorities who come from all different slants to the scriptures
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Speaker 1: or to ministry, and make all different kinds of demands
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Speaker 1: upon one who wishes to respect his seniors and those
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Speaker 1: who are more seasoned and experienced than he. It's confusing.
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Speaker 1: I sometimes go back to a funny little thing someone
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Speaker 1: gave me years ago. It's a want ad minister wanted.
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Speaker 1: You'll chuckle with some of it because because it's extreme,
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Speaker 1: obviously it's a sarcastic jab, but you'll get the IDEA
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Speaker 1: wanted minister for a growing church a real challenge for
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Speaker 1: the right man. Applicant must offer experience as a shop worker,
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Speaker 1: office manager, educator, artist, salesman, diplomat, cheerleader, writer, theologian, politician, boy,
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Speaker 1: scout leader, children's worker, minor league athlete, psychologist, vocational counselor, psychiatrist,
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Speaker 1: funeral director, wedding consultant, master of ceremonies, circus clown, missionary,
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Speaker 1: social worker. Helpful but not a central experience as a butcher, cowboy,
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Speaker 1: Western union messenger. Must know all about problems of birth
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Speaker 1: and death, marriage, etc. Also conversant with the latest theories
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Speaker 1: and practices in areas like pediatrics, economics, in nuclear science.
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Speaker 1: The right man will hold firm views on every topic,
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Speaker 1: but is careful not to upset people who disagree. Must
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Speaker 1: be forthright but flexible return criticism and backbiting with Christian
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Speaker 1: love and forgiveness. Should have an outgoing, friendly disposition at
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Speaker 1: all times. Should be a captivating speaker and an intent listener.
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Speaker 1: Education must be beyond PhD requirements, but always concealed in homespun,
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Speaker 1: modesty and folks. He talk able to sound learned at
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Speaker 1: all times, but most of times talks and acts like
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Speaker 1: good old Joe. Familiar with the literature read by the
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Speaker 1: average congregation. Must be willing to work long hours, subject
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Speaker 1: to call day or night, Adaptable to sudden interruptions, applicant's
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Speaker 1: wife must be stunning but plain, smartly attired but conservative
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Speaker 1: in appearance, gracious and able to get along with everyone.
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Speaker 1: Even women must be willing to work in church, kitchen,
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Speaker 1: teach sunny school, babysit, run the multilith wait tables, never
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Speaker 1: listen to gossip, never become discouraged applicants. Children must be
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Speaker 1: exemplary and conduct and character well behaved, yet basically no
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Speaker 1: different from other children. And then a little added two
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Speaker 1: lines decently dressed exclamation point. Opportunity for applicant to live
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Speaker 1: close to work, furnished home provided, open door hospitality enforced.
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Speaker 1: All replies would be kept confidential. Anyone applying will undergo
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Speaker 1: full investigation to determine his sanity. Oh, I know it's extreme,
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Speaker 1: and I know it's not funny to some of you. Unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: some of you stop laughing about things like that. Some
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Speaker 1: of you, unfortunately have been burned and you've left the
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Speaker 1: ministry because of things like that. It's very difficult to
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Speaker 1: get a handle on ministry depends on who you ask.
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Speaker 1: Not nearly so in medicine or law or finance. But
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Speaker 1: how easy it is for a young couple entering ministry
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Speaker 1: within less than five years to be disillusioned. They have
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Speaker 1: stars in their eyes, they have hope in their lives,
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Speaker 1: they have great expectations to be a part of changing lives,
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Speaker 1: and before long they're sort of cut down to size
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Speaker 1: by who knows what current or attack or assault. It
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Speaker 1: can be terribly disillusioning. Makes me very very grateful that
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Speaker 1: in the bombardment of times like these, God has preserved
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Speaker 1: a couple or three letters in the New Testament that
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Speaker 1: have been guidelines from which young men and women who
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Speaker 1: step into ministry can find some concrete help. And they
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Speaker 1: can turn to these letters called First Timothy and Second
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Speaker 1: Timothy and Titus and discover here not hearsay, not cultural expectations,
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Speaker 1: not unrealistic demands, not false assumptions, but truth to guide
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Speaker 1: their lives and ministries by God's word. Does not leave
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Speaker 1: us without help. I'm very grateful to declare that you
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Speaker 1: will never know the times in which ministers turn to
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Speaker 1: these three letters to get their directions, to get their moorings.
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Speaker 1: And in case there are ministers who hear these words
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Speaker 1: right now, it might have been a long time since
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Speaker 1: you turned to these three letters, and just ask God
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Speaker 1: to feed your soul from them. Might be well worth
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Speaker 1: the effort for the next number of weeks, just to
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Speaker 1: pore over the words, not with a commentary, not with
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Speaker 1: a set of tapes, not with a bunch of books.
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Speaker 1: Just the book, the Bible, and just let God feed
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Speaker 1: you and nourish you and refresh you. We're doing this
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Speaker 1: in the flagship of the three letters, one to Timothy.
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Speaker 1: We are making a study of this wonderful book, and
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Speaker 1: in this particular occasion, we're answering the question, what's a
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Speaker 1: pastor to do? What are the things in which he
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Speaker 1: should spend his life? What are the guidelines to follow?
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Speaker 1: What's the channel to direct his efforts? And I think
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Speaker 1: we will discover from these first several verses of the
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Speaker 1: first chapter a few of the things that will clarify,
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Speaker 1: I certainly hope. So there's a warm greeting to a
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Speaker 1: close friend as the book begins, or as the letter begins.
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Speaker 1: The one who is writing is Paul, an apostle. It's
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Speaker 1: clearly the seasoned and scarred, and wise and well traveled,
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Speaker 1: no doubt, balding and bearded Paul. What little bit of
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Speaker 1: hair was left was probably silver gray or snow white.
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Speaker 1: He had been through the mill. We would say today.
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Speaker 1: He had been stoned and whipped and beaten, and forgotten
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Speaker 1: and rejected and buffeted and kicked aside. He had, in
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Speaker 1: other places been revered and worshiped as if at a shrine.
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Speaker 1: He had known the extremes of reaction from people. So
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Speaker 1: he's not writing out of a theory. He's not coming
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Speaker 1: from the halls of academia. He's not writing in sterile
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Speaker 1: intellectual style. What ministry is about. He's writing to a
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Speaker 1: friend named Timothy verse two, and he's talking to Timothy
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Speaker 1: about stuff that will help the man survive. To put
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Speaker 1: it frankly, what was Paul like? Well, we read that
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Speaker 1: he was an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the
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Speaker 1: commandment of God our savior, and of Christ Jesus, who
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Speaker 1: is our hope. But what was he like personally? In
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Speaker 1: an old work by Onocipherus of Iconium entitled The Acts
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Speaker 1: of Paul and thecla I've uncovered an interesting description of Paul.
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Speaker 1: May not be inspired, but it might very well be enlightening.
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Speaker 1: He was a man of moderate stature, with curly hair
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Speaker 1: and scanty, crooked legs, protruding eyeballs, large knit eyebrows, a
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Speaker 1: large nose and thick lips. That's Paul. He said, Well,
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Speaker 1: I think that's bad press. I think he must have
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Speaker 1: been better than that. Well, in his own admission, Tewod
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Speaker 1: Corinthians ten, verse ten says, his letters are weighty and strong,
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Speaker 1: but his personal presence is unimpressive, and his speech is contemptible.
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Speaker 1: By his own admission. In First Corinthians, chapter two, he says,
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Speaker 1: I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and
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Speaker 1: in trembling. My message and my preaching were not in
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Speaker 1: persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit
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Speaker 1: and power. First Corinthians two, verses three through four. We
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Speaker 1: evangelicals have built Paul into something he never was. We
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Speaker 1: have made it the rock of theological Gibraltar. He has
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Speaker 1: swept people away like an ecclesiastical superman, as though he
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Speaker 1: was never at a loss to what to say and
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Speaker 1: how to say it, and swayed people by the masses.
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Speaker 1: Wrong at every point, wrong, brilliant mind, but in person,
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Speaker 1: an unattractive, unimpressive. Probably for most large churches today, wouldn't
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Speaker 1: even be considered as a candidate for the pastorate. Unfortunate
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Speaker 1: but true. That's Paul. Dear Paul, seasoned, gracious, understanding, struggling.
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Speaker 1: Paul human to the core, but a divine, a man
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Speaker 1: who had the touch of God, and in spite of
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Speaker 1: a great deal of humanity, is used to write letters
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Speaker 1: that will be preserved throughout time and eternity. What a
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Speaker 1: man think of his writing you a letter. I think
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Speaker 1: it's wrong to dig into Timothy like we're reading through
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Speaker 1: a grammar and just pick at words and point out
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Speaker 1: syntax and get busy with the text and not feeling.
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Speaker 1: There's feeling here, and I require of us to get
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Speaker 1: the feeling of the passage, or we haven't done a
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Speaker 1: good job of this book, of this letter. This is
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Speaker 1: a letter from a friend. You don't analyze the verbs.
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Speaker 1: When a friend writes you. You get the feel of
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Speaker 1: the friend. You want to know where his heart is
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Speaker 1: or what she's trying to say, and how she feels
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Speaker 1: about you are, what his aspirations are, what the battle is.
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Speaker 1: He's writing to his friend Timothy, whom he calls his
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Speaker 1: true child. It's an endearing term, one man says over
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Speaker 1: and over again. Paul's voice vibrates with love and affection
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Speaker 1: when he speaks of Timothy, when he is sending when
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Speaker 1: he is sending him to that sadly divided church at Corinth,
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Speaker 1: he writes, I have sent you Timothy, who is my
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Speaker 1: beloved son and faithful in the Lord. When he is
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Speaker 1: planning to send him to Philippi, he writes, I have
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Speaker 1: no man whose mind is in such harmony with mine
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Speaker 1: as a father with a son he has served with
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Speaker 1: me in the Gospel, he was an adult adopted son,
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Speaker 1: as it were. I mean, they were just like this,
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Speaker 1: just tight, just like the meshing of teeth in gears
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Speaker 1: they fit. And Paul says, since I'm not able to come,
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Speaker 1: I'm sending a man whose gears fit mine, whose head
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Speaker 1: is with me, whose heart is in harmony. What a
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Speaker 1: lieutenant this officer had in Timothy. What a man Timothy
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Speaker 1: must have been, a true child, and the faith it's
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Speaker 1: it's the idea of being sterling in character, genuine, not false,
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Speaker 1: true child. And he gives the general greeting to his friend,
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Speaker 1: grace and mercy and peace from Christ Jesus our Lord,
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Speaker 1: characteristic blessing of affirmation. By the way, one of the
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Speaker 1: emotional companions of ministry is loneliness. Don't ever forget that.
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Speaker 1: Think of that before you enter it. Young man or
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Speaker 1: woman listening to these words, think of that it goes
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Speaker 1: with the territory. Your work requires of you a sense
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Speaker 1: of solitude, and the very solitude that gives you the
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Speaker 1: basis upon which to speak is in and of itself
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Speaker 1: a lonely vigil. There simply are not too many people
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Speaker 1: with whom you can open your life. You dare not.
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Speaker 1: There are some, hopefully like Paul had with Timothy, and
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Speaker 1: I hope you will not spend your years in loneliness.
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Speaker 1: I hope that there will be companions, mentors to look
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Speaker 1: back on and to love, and to wash yourself in
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Speaker 1: the memory of those people who shaped you, and the
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Speaker 1: joys of colleagues with you, a few that you can
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Speaker 1: trust with the very details of your soul. I hope
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Speaker 1: you have a Timothy. I certainly do. I would feel
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Speaker 1: poverty stricken without a few Timothys. Not many, but I
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Speaker 1: have a few. Now, following the warm greeting where he
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Speaker 1: has sort of gotten his foot in the door and
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Speaker 1: expressed to this young man a word of affirmation, he
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Speaker 1: gets right down to business. He seems concerned for his friend,
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Speaker 1: and the counsel that he offers is in what I'm
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Speaker 1: suggesting five direct pieces of advice, and I get all
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Speaker 1: five of them from the better part of this chapter,
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Speaker 1: as I urged you, upon my departure for Macedonia, remain
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Speaker 1: on at Ephesus. The first piece of advice is saying,
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Speaker 1: stay at the task. We would say today, don't church
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Speaker 1: hop now. To be sure, there are reasons for leaving ministries.
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Speaker 1: In fact, there are reasons on occasion for leaving ministries
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Speaker 1: shortly after one has been gunned them. But to do
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Speaker 1: so as a regular diet or a regular habit is unwise,
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Speaker 1: Paul says to Timothy, stick it out. I urge you,
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Speaker 1: it's a plea. Stay there. No work can be done
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Speaker 1: in depth in a church without the passing of time.
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Speaker 1: I was grateful for the issue fall of nineteen eighty
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Speaker 1: three of Leadership, a practical journal for church leaders. The
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Speaker 1: theme is pastoral transitions, and it addresses the subject and
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Speaker 1: among other things, of men and women leaving ministry, and
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Speaker 1: sometime leaving too quickly. In fact, the last interview is
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Speaker 1: with shepherds who have stayed stayed by the stuff gray
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Speaker 1: headed men that have hung in there. But an article
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Speaker 1: that interested me especially was called ten reasons not to Resign.
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Speaker 1: I thought that was an interesting title, and I read
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Speaker 1: that not because I have any ideas, I assure you,
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Speaker 1: but at times it's good to think about reasons not
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Speaker 1: to walk away. We often entertain reasons to do that,
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Speaker 1: and this good man Don Bubna suggests these ten Number one,
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Speaker 1: I need to grow in the new demands I am facing,
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Speaker 1: rather than find an excuse to cop out. Number two,
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Speaker 1: I refuse to be guided by my emotions. Number three.
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Speaker 1: My family needs love and stability. Number four. Building people
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Speaker 1: takes time. Number five. I want our missionaries to have
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Speaker 1: a sense of permanence in their home church. Number six.
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Speaker 1: A longer ministry better serves the church and the com unity.
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Speaker 1: Number seven. The support of elders comes gradually, very wise
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Speaker 1: statement Number eight. Our people have been generous with me.
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Speaker 1: Need to remember that. Need to think about that before
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Speaker 1: I walk away or resign. In fact, there's a statement
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Speaker 1: made to leave the church because sin has not been
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Speaker 1: dealt with is to contribute to the immaturity of the body.
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Speaker 1: Number nine. I must not avoid confession and forgiveness. And
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Speaker 1: he admitted in this article admits to an experience he
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Speaker 1: had with his own staff where there was the need
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Speaker 1: for forgiveness and confession, and that was not reason to leave.
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Speaker 1: It was all the more reason to stay and work
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Speaker 1: it through. And number ten, I can trust God and
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Speaker 1: not panic. We're in a day of a jumping ship.
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Speaker 1: When it gets tough, bailing out because everything isn't working right.
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Speaker 1: There's greener grass on the other side. Often when you
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Speaker 1: get there, you notice it's not even not greener, it's
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Speaker 1: not even edible. It's not nearly as good as you
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Speaker 1: thought it would be. Sometime it is. Sometime it's even
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Speaker 1: better than you thought. There is no perfect place. And Timothy,
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Speaker 1: in case you're you're getting antsy to pull out of
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Speaker 1: Ephesus and go to Thessala Naika or the minister in
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Speaker 1: Thia Tyra, or to take that church at Philadelphia, or
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Speaker 1: to do a fresh work at Leaaticea. Don't you stay.
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Speaker 1: I urge you stay at the task. Well, what does
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Speaker 1: he do there? If he's going to stay, and if
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Speaker 1: the sledding is tough and the going is rough, what's
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Speaker 1: he to spend his time doing. Please look at what
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Speaker 1: the text says and stop listening to what the media
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Speaker 1: is saying. Just look at what the scripture teaches. I
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Speaker 1: urge you remain on at Ephesus. Now here's the purpose,
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Speaker 1: in order that you may instruct certain men not to
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Speaker 1: teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and
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Speaker 1: endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation, rather than
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Speaker 1: furthering God's provision, which is by faith. Verse six. For
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Speaker 1: some men straying from these things the things mentioned in
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Speaker 1: verse five pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. Some
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Speaker 1: men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless
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Speaker 1: discussion and wanting to be teachers of the law, even
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Speaker 1: though they don't understand either what they're saying or the
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Speaker 1: matters about which they make confident assertions. Second piece of advice.
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Speaker 1: Communicate the truth. This is address to people who are
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Speaker 1: in ministry and the truth for you may be one slice.
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Speaker 1: It may be in music, it may be in education.
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Speaker 1: It may be with women's ministries. It may be with
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Speaker 1: men's ministries. It may be a class you're involved in.
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Speaker 1: It may be a pulpit ministry. It wears all different hats.
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Speaker 1: It may be in a conference ministry, it may be
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Speaker 1: in a school ministry. Whatever, communicate the truth. That's your calling. Why.
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Speaker 1: It is a very real reason why, because there are
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Speaker 1: many that communicate falsehood heteros doctrine. Heterosexual is the opposite
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Speaker 1: of homosexual. Heteros is the term in the Greek that
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Speaker 1: means different, that is, other, of a different kind. There
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Speaker 1: are people who are teaching doctrine, but it's heteros doctrine.
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Speaker 1: They are teaching things that cut cross grain with truth,
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Speaker 1: and they're making it sound like it's truth, and they're
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Speaker 1: having an impact and people are gobbling it up. They're
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Speaker 1: believing it, Timothy, They're buying it hook line and sinker.
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Speaker 1: Now they are recognized as authorities, and people are ooing
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Speaker 1: and awing around them as they go into their myths
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Speaker 1: and genealogies and speculations that simply drift people away from
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Speaker 1: the truth. Timothy, stay at the task. Communicate the truth.
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Speaker 1: Do it in season and out of season. Spell out
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Speaker 1: the doctrines so that they're easily understood. You're not communicating
29:03
Speaker 1: to seminary students. You're communicating to people in everyday life.
29:08
Speaker 1: Say it straight so that everybody can understand it. The
29:12
Speaker 1: great Southern Baptist scholar, doctor Kyle Yeates once wrote, the
29:18
Speaker 1: chief intellectual qualification of the minister must be the power
29:23
Speaker 1: to conceive clearly and comprehensively Christian doctrine. There is nothing
29:33
Speaker 1: which so completely nullifies his efforts as confusion and inconsistency
29:41
Speaker 1: in his statements of doctrine. Timothy stay at the task
29:51
Speaker 1: and instruct people with the truth. What's the big deal?
29:58
Speaker 1: Why so much stress on this, Chuck? Why do you
30:02
Speaker 1: spend the time on it? We've gotten the point? Why? Why?
30:08
Speaker 1: Very clear reason? Why? Why is it so vital? Because
30:13
Speaker 1: there are so very many who are unable to defend themselves,
30:23
Speaker 1: You defend for them, You give them ammunition. C. S.
30:32
Speaker 1: Lewis made a statement that I have written down and
30:36
Speaker 1: thought about lots of times. If all the world were Christian,
30:42
Speaker 1: it might not matter if all the world were uneducated.
30:47
Speaker 1: But as it is, a cultural life will exist outside
30:51
Speaker 1: the Church, whether it exists inside or not. To be
30:55
Speaker 1: ignorant and simple now, not to be able to meet
30:59
Speaker 1: the enemy on their own ground, would be to throw
31:02
Speaker 1: down our weapons and to betray our uneducated brethren, who
31:06
Speaker 1: have under God no defense but us against the intellectual
31:11
Speaker 1: attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for
31:17
Speaker 1: no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.
31:22
Speaker 1: The cool intellect must work not only against cool intellect
31:26
Speaker 1: on the other side, but against the muddy heathen mysticisms
31:30
Speaker 1: which deny intellect altogether. Most of all, perhaps we need
31:36
Speaker 1: intimate knowledge of the past. The learned life, then, is
31:39
Speaker 1: for some a duty. I'm not here to entertain you
31:47
Speaker 1: in this talk. I have no interest in entertaining people.
31:51
Speaker 1: We often have a great time, and there are occasions
31:55
Speaker 1: when we will just laugh uproariously, and we will on
31:57
Speaker 1: occasion just we together. But I've never been more sincere
32:03
Speaker 1: than in the reading of that statement. For some people,
32:07
Speaker 1: the intellectual pursuit of the faith is a duty. Praise
32:13
Speaker 1: God for men and women who have been raised up
32:15
Speaker 1: to hammer out and to think through and to spell
32:19
Speaker 1: out for us ways to answer the enemy, Because I
32:25
Speaker 1: can assure you they are hard at the task to
32:28
Speaker 1: tear down the faith, and they are certainly outnumbering those
32:34
Speaker 1: who are walking in the truth. Timothy, stay at the task.
32:41
Speaker 1: Ignorance is not bliss, it's dangerous. It's perilous. And if
32:47
Speaker 1: you flit from place to place because the going gets rough,
32:50
Speaker 1: there will be no roots put down, there will be
32:53
Speaker 1: no help given. People will get the impression concerning ministry
32:59
Speaker 1: in a certain line, and it will be a false impression.
33:02
Speaker 1: Stay there, Stay there. There's a third and it's out
33:13
Speaker 1: of verse five. I love it very much. This third
33:17
Speaker 1: statement is concentrate on the target. Stay at the task,
33:21
Speaker 1: communicate the truth. Concentrate on the target. Verse five. The
33:26
Speaker 1: goal of our instruction isn't that helpful? He said to him.
33:31
Speaker 1: Now wait before you reading further? Wait, wait you're reading further.
33:33
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, now, no jump ahead. See in verse three,
33:36
Speaker 1: in order that you may instruct Verse five. The goal
33:41
Speaker 1: of our instruction isn't that helpful? God gives us his
33:45
Speaker 1: word and then spells out reasons why we are to
33:48
Speaker 1: do what we do. Not only do it because I
33:50
Speaker 1: said so, but do it for this reason. And while
33:53
Speaker 1: you're doing it, this is your target. To make those
34:00
Speaker 1: enemy squirm wrong, to impress people with your intellect wrong,
34:07
Speaker 1: To sway the masses so that people will say, my
34:11
Speaker 1: what a student of the scriptures? Wrong? The goal, the target,
34:16
Speaker 1: the bullseye of our instruction is love from a pure heart,
34:21
Speaker 1: a good conscience, and a sincere faith. That's the goal.
34:29
Speaker 1: When they walk away from your declaration, from your instruction,
34:34
Speaker 1: when they step out of the counseling room, and you
34:37
Speaker 1: have had a chance to talk straight about life. When
34:40
Speaker 1: they move away from that evening where you have spent
34:42
Speaker 1: with that group of people, or whatever, whatever the situation,
34:48
Speaker 1: they will walk away realizing that they had seen in
34:52
Speaker 1: action love from a pure heart, a clean, good conscience,
35:01
Speaker 1: and a faith marked by an hypocritas non hypocritical faith.
35:07
Speaker 1: They heard those words from an authentic source, a person
35:12
Speaker 1: who was what he is. Conscience is our moral intuition.
35:21
Speaker 1: It's that part of us that passes judgment upon our
35:24
Speaker 1: own state. And it takes away our confidence when it
35:29
Speaker 1: is sour or when it is bad. It takes away
35:34
Speaker 1: our security when it is soiled. And so be sure, Timothy,
35:41
Speaker 1: when you are instructing that you've dealt with your conscience
35:44
Speaker 1: so that it's good. Go over to two Timothy, Chapter two,
35:48
Speaker 1: verses twenty four to twenty six. The Lord's bond servant,
35:55
Speaker 1: look at this now, Chapter two, two Timothy, two twenty four.
35:59
Speaker 1: Lord'sant must not be quarrelsome. Now that's a mouthful right there.
36:05
Speaker 1: How many of God's bond servants pick a fight? They
36:08
Speaker 1: don't talk ten minutes for you so mad you want
36:10
Speaker 1: to stand up and scream back at them. They're quarrelsome.
36:13
Speaker 1: But it says, be kind to all able to teach,
36:17
Speaker 1: patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition,
36:25
Speaker 1: if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the
36:29
Speaker 1: knowledge of the truth. I have never in my life
36:33
Speaker 1: heard anyone say in their testimony I lost an argument.
36:36
Speaker 1: The guy hit me in the face, and while I
36:37
Speaker 1: was bleeding and sitting there dejected, I came to no Christ.
36:44
Speaker 1: Nobody comes to know Christ because somebody gave him a
36:47
Speaker 1: black eye and won an argument. I hear all the
36:50
Speaker 1: time people saying, you know, somebody led me to Christ,
36:53
Speaker 1: and the most gentle and gracious and confident and secure
36:57
Speaker 1: manner didn't have all the answer to all my questions.
37:00
Speaker 1: But I couldn't get over the love. I couldn't get
37:03
Speaker 1: over the purity of that life. I couldn't get over
37:05
Speaker 1: the authenticity of that model. That just blew me away.
37:12
Speaker 1: Just fulfilling what the Lord's bond servant is to be
37:16
Speaker 1: so to be well instructed, and to be confident, and
37:19
Speaker 1: to be secure in one's position, and to be able
37:22
Speaker 1: to declare it with exacting words, does not suggest that
37:29
Speaker 1: it must be done defensively. I think we've been sold
37:32
Speaker 1: a bill of goods. In our process of defending the faith,
37:35
Speaker 1: we've become defensive, untouchable, angry. We love that old sinner.
37:46
Speaker 1: We hate the sin, we despise the wrong that's being done.
37:50
Speaker 1: But there's something about that sinner that's to draw us.
37:58
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you, when you've got that kind of
38:00
Speaker 1: target in front of you, and your ministry is marked
38:02
Speaker 1: by that, that old center will listen more often than not.
38:08
Speaker 1: When I was in the Marine Corps, we used to
38:09
Speaker 1: go to the rifle range, and after we had done
38:13
Speaker 1: all of the stretching and all the snapping in so
38:16
Speaker 1: that we learned something of our weapon, we would look
38:19
Speaker 1: at the distance, which would be two hundred yards, three
38:21
Speaker 1: hundred yards, and ultimately five hundred yards, and then we
38:25
Speaker 1: would hear the captain of the firing range scream out
38:28
Speaker 1: on this PA system, watch your targets, and then up
38:34
Speaker 1: they'd come. Then you start hearing the crack and the
38:38
Speaker 1: pop of the rifles and the weapons around you. Watch
38:41
Speaker 1: your targets, Watch your targets. Every once in a while
38:45
Speaker 1: those words come back to haunt me, and they're right
38:48
Speaker 1: out of First Timothy one, verse five. Watch your target.
38:53
Speaker 1: Love from a pure heart, Love from a good conscience,
38:57
Speaker 1: love from an unhypocritical faith. Watch your targets on target,
39:05
Speaker 1: that's the bull's eye, that's where you're shooting. See, your
39:09
Speaker 1: goal is not just to whittle him right down to
39:13
Speaker 1: size and to watch him squirm. Ah, what did I
39:18
Speaker 1: whip him into shape? You drive home so confident, probably
39:25
Speaker 1: have two flats on the way home. And the kind
39:26
Speaker 1: of thing happened. God is a way of bringing us
39:29
Speaker 1: down to size. If you're prompted by pride, you're in
39:31
Speaker 1: the wrong work. If you're keeping scores a little notches
39:35
Speaker 1: on the handle so that you know how many people
39:37
Speaker 1: you whipped into shape, that's the wrong method, wrong target,
39:40
Speaker 1: wrong goal. It's not God's plan. You can't support that
39:46
Speaker 1: from scripture, even though you see a lot of that
39:49
Speaker 1: going on around you. I'll tell you, the person who
39:56
Speaker 1: truly is walking in the light needs to have the
40:01
Speaker 1: sweetest spirit, most humble heart, the most approachable mind, the
40:10
Speaker 1: willingness to hear of all people. Fourth, remember the standard.
40:21
Speaker 1: This is very helpful. He's described people for whom the
40:24
Speaker 1: law is made Verses eight and nine. He goes through
40:28
Speaker 1: a whole series of them, those who are lawless, the
40:31
Speaker 1: rebellious Verse nine, the ungodly, the sinners, the unholy, profane,
40:36
Speaker 1: those who kill fathers and mothers, and murderers and immoral
40:40
Speaker 1: men and homosexuals, and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and
40:44
Speaker 1: in case I left anyone out, whatever else is contrary
40:48
Speaker 1: to sound teaching. All of those people fall in the
40:52
Speaker 1: category of the sin fall, all of those that do
40:55
Speaker 1: whatever is contrary to sound teaching. But what is that
40:59
Speaker 1: sound teach? Based on verse eleven, it is according to
41:05
Speaker 1: the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God, with which I
41:10
Speaker 1: have been entrusted. The syntactical construction of this particular verse,
41:16
Speaker 1: according to the Gospel, suggests a norm or a standard.
41:22
Speaker 1: In other words, this sound teaching with which verse ten concludes,
41:31
Speaker 1: has as its basis the glorious Gospel. Sound teaching is
41:38
Speaker 1: built from the basic foundation, the norm or the standard
41:43
Speaker 1: of the Gospel that has been entrusted to us. It's
41:48
Speaker 1: not original with Paul. It was deposited into his care.
41:51
Speaker 1: The eye is emphatic with which I, of all people,
41:56
Speaker 1: have been entrusted. Now I've been entrusted with the Gospel
42:00
Speaker 1: as a minister, so have all of you as ministers.
42:04
Speaker 1: Now that is the basis upon which we build our
42:06
Speaker 1: sound teaching. Good and illustration would be a house that
42:11
Speaker 1: you build. You build a house according to the standard
42:13
Speaker 1: of the twelve inch foot, the three foot yard, the
42:19
Speaker 1: little one inch standard is the basis upon which everything
42:22
Speaker 1: is gauged based upon the norm or the standard of
42:28
Speaker 1: the ruler. You build a home based upon the norm
42:31
Speaker 1: or the standard of the Gospel. You build your sound teaching.
42:36
Speaker 1: It doesn't come from myths and fables. It doesn't come
42:38
Speaker 1: from human philosophers. It doesn't drift in with the media
42:42
Speaker 1: according to the generation in which you live. It doesn't
42:45
Speaker 1: come from someone's hint or opinion or idea, or just
42:50
Speaker 1: because Mama has always believed it or Daddy always said.
42:54
Speaker 1: It doesn't come from culture. It comes from the Gospel.
42:58
Speaker 1: The basis of sound teaching is the glorious Gospel of
43:02
Speaker 1: the blessed God with which we have been entrusted. That's
43:07
Speaker 1: the norm. Let's go back to our analogy of medicine.
43:14
Speaker 1: People who practice good medicine return to the scientific principles
43:19
Speaker 1: of medicine. There's no hocus pocus. We call those people
43:26
Speaker 1: quacks or frauds, and they're exposed every year. Good medicine
43:32
Speaker 1: is practiced on the basis or according to the standard
43:36
Speaker 1: of those principles of medicine which have been passed down.
43:42
Speaker 1: Good sound teaching comes from the basis or the principle
43:45
Speaker 1: of the Gospel, which has been deposited into our care
43:49
Speaker 1: like a treasured trust. Now, in light of all of that,
43:56
Speaker 1: look at verse eighteen. There's one more piece of advice.
44:01
Speaker 1: Obey the command. We're going to skip Paul's testimony. He
44:05
Speaker 1: slides that in verses twelve to seventeen. We'll look at
44:07
Speaker 1: that next time. Right now, just study verse eighteen. And
44:10
Speaker 1: following this command, I entrust to you, Timothy, my son,
44:15
Speaker 1: in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that
44:20
Speaker 1: by them you may fight the good fight, keeping faith.
44:25
Speaker 1: And he repeats himself, and a good conscience. Pause right there,
44:30
Speaker 1: fight the good fight, he has said. Stay at the task,
44:34
Speaker 1: communicate the truth, concentrate on the target. Remember the standard.
44:38
Speaker 1: Now obey the command. There are times that you must fight.
44:43
Speaker 1: Would to God that the fight would be over, Would
44:46
Speaker 1: to God that we could see all the fighting that
44:49
Speaker 1: has to go on, that we could witness the battle.
44:51
Speaker 1: But as James Watt said to me, sometime ago when
44:54
Speaker 1: we were talking. In that private conversation, he described to
44:57
Speaker 1: me his world, the world in which he was come from,
45:00
Speaker 1: in which he had lived. He said, Chuck, frankly, I
45:04
Speaker 1: have observed that the battle that's going on, it's the
45:06
Speaker 1: most horrendous battle, is the unseen battle. You cannot envision it,
45:13
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you when you step into it, you
45:15
Speaker 1: are aware it's a battle. The minister who is unaware
45:19
Speaker 1: of the unseen battle is an unprepared minister. It's raging,
45:25
Speaker 1: it's wild, it goes for the jugular. It's designed to
45:29
Speaker 1: shipwreck the faith. In fact, he gives you a couple
45:33
Speaker 1: of people who have had that happen in their lives.
45:37
Speaker 1: That's where I stopped reading, keeping faith in a good conscience,
45:41
Speaker 1: which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to
45:45
Speaker 1: their faith. He names them Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom he
45:49
Speaker 1: delivered over to Satan, that they may bet, that may
45:52
Speaker 1: be taught not to Blasphere you have two very firm
45:57
Speaker 1: weapons for battle. They are given to you here faith,
46:02
Speaker 1: that is the faith, the body of truth, and a
46:05
Speaker 1: good conscience. Without those weapons, we crumble like a dry
46:11
Speaker 1: cookie that's been sitting on the shelf for three or
46:13
Speaker 1: four days. There's no body, there's no tenacity, there's no resilience.
46:18
Speaker 1: We finally fall. These men suffered shipwreck and they walked
46:22
Speaker 1: away from the truths Now there's a sort of a
46:26
Speaker 1: wrap up warning, times up. I have so many more
46:29
Speaker 1: things I'd love to say. I don't know how to
46:35
Speaker 1: put it quite like this, like I want to, so
46:37
Speaker 1: let me just kind of stumble my way through it.
46:40
Speaker 1: I said earlier, the ministry can be a disillusioning and
46:44
Speaker 1: confusing piece of work. It need not be. It can
46:50
Speaker 1: be the most fulfilling and the most satisfying of all.
46:56
Speaker 1: I observe that the difference comes from what we lean
47:00
Speaker 1: on and who we listen to. Those who lean on
47:05
Speaker 1: human opinion and listen mainly to people makes no difference
47:12
Speaker 1: who they are. Allowing those people to determine their direction
47:17
Speaker 1: and their philosophy wind up disillusioned and confused and terribly insecure.
47:28
Speaker 1: Those who lean on the Lord and listen mainly to
47:31
Speaker 1: his word, allowing that to influence and shape their philosophy
47:35
Speaker 1: and direction, wind up fulfilled, staying more on target, challenge,
47:40
Speaker 1: and enthusiastic. So the warning be very careful where you
47:44
Speaker 1: lean and to whom you listen, be really choosy. Just
47:50
Speaker 1: like you choose the radio dial those programs you really
47:53
Speaker 1: want to listen to. You turn away from all the
47:55
Speaker 1: others to choose the one you want, just as you
47:58
Speaker 1: pick on the channel of the television, the one channel
48:00
Speaker 1: you want to watch, and you overlook six or eight.
48:03
Speaker 1: If you live in a community where there are many,
48:05
Speaker 1: maybe as many as ten or twelve, and even cable channel,
48:08
Speaker 1: you choose the one you want to impact you. So
48:12
Speaker 1: you make such choices in ministry, you overlook deliberately some
48:17
Speaker 1: so that others might shape you and impact you. It
48:21
Speaker 1: will have all the difference in the world in how
48:23
Speaker 1: you survive. I'm reading a good book called Five Smooth
48:28
Speaker 1: Stones for Pastoral Work by Eugene Peterson, and I want
48:35
Speaker 1: to close with just a few comments thanks to doctor Peterson.
48:42
Speaker 1: Pastoral work takes place in a crowded religious fair, noisy
48:48
Speaker 1: with the bargaining of shoppers and hawkers, those who have
48:53
Speaker 1: ventured out in the hope of finding something that will
48:56
Speaker 1: make their lives better, and those who promise that they
49:00
Speaker 1: have something that will make life better. The shoppers expect
49:06
Speaker 1: to receive something that they could not otherwise get on
49:09
Speaker 1: their own, and to learn something that they could not
49:12
Speaker 1: discover by themselves. They expect to get in on something
49:17
Speaker 1: that transcends the natural and to understand something that exceeds
49:21
Speaker 1: the mundane. The ordinary term for what they expect is
49:27
Speaker 1: quote little G God quote, and they expect the pastor
49:34
Speaker 1: to give it to them. Since no one has seen
49:38
Speaker 1: God at any time, and the pastor is perfectly visible
49:41
Speaker 1: at most times, the expectations that people have of God
49:47
Speaker 1: are often focused on the pastor, the bull's eye for
49:51
Speaker 1: God targeted expectations. The expectations converge from a wide horizon
49:59
Speaker 1: moral ideal, spiritual hunger, evidence of righteousness, advocacy for justice,
50:04
Speaker 1: rewards for being good, answers to enigmas. What people informed
50:10
Speaker 1: by the great Vine of religion are looking for is
50:13
Speaker 1: aimed at the pastor. We work on a street teeming
50:19
Speaker 1: with competition. Every kind of religious leadership is offered to
50:25
Speaker 1: people who want God little G. No pastor is provided
50:30
Speaker 1: the luxury of people's exclusive attention. Congregations are not sequestered
50:35
Speaker 1: between Sundays from religious propaganda and spiritual promises from the
50:40
Speaker 1: radio message in the television, spectacular, newspaper advice and magazine wisdom,
50:46
Speaker 1: religious counsel, and gospel preaching pour into the mind at
50:50
Speaker 1: an unprecedented rate. Saint Paul angry at sismatic itinerants who
50:59
Speaker 1: were unsett his congregations with gaudy but cheap doctrines, faced
51:04
Speaker 1: only a fraction of what today's pastor gets from the competitors,
51:09
Speaker 1: many of whom have access to the expensive media. Then,
51:17
Speaker 1: he writes, the pastor is not a cheerleader. Pastoral enthusiasm
51:32
Speaker 1: used for propagandistic ends blunts the fine edge of the
51:36
Speaker 1: divine yes. Pastors have little to learn and much to
51:41
Speaker 1: fear from the public relations industry. For the pastor has
51:54
Speaker 1: the responsibility to nurture the affirmative without encouraging the gullible,
52:01
Speaker 1: to keep people alert and prepared to say yes to
52:04
Speaker 1: every yes of God in every part of existence, without
52:09
Speaker 1: at the same time being a patsy for every confidence
52:14
Speaker 1: game in town. To train people in robust acceptance of
52:19
Speaker 1: what God brings to us, and not to passively submit
52:24
Speaker 1: to the trashy merchandising of religious salespeople. We must confront
52:34
Speaker 1: the breezy, irresponsible nonchalance that avoids hard difficulties. Thered a
52:44
Speaker 1: lot of thinking about that, especially in southern California, where
52:49
Speaker 1: it's easy to buy the system and to try to
52:52
Speaker 1: outdo the guy in the next corner. In the midst
52:57
Speaker 1: of all this, understand that the pastor has no corner
53:00
Speaker 1: on the truth. He's equipped with a mind like you are.
53:04
Speaker 1: Maybe has a little bit more time to give to
53:06
Speaker 1: the things of the scriptures than you have in your
53:08
Speaker 1: workaday world. But as a man who is pushing for
53:12
Speaker 1: understanding in this whole world of discovery of the truth
53:17
Speaker 1: of God and at times misses it, I want to
53:25
Speaker 1: point you, therefore, to God, not to myself. I want
53:30
Speaker 1: you to be a worshiper of your heavenly Father, not
53:34
Speaker 1: of your pastor. While I appreciate the respect of God's people,
53:41
Speaker 1: I in no sense deserve being on a shrine. I
53:45
Speaker 1: don't fit a pedestal. Get me off of it. Don't
53:50
Speaker 1: quote me as though I were Christ. Find your satisfaction
53:56
Speaker 1: and your fulfillment in the Savior and the defense for
54:01
Speaker 1: such in his Gospel. View me as a model, if
54:08
Speaker 1: you please, as one who wants to do the right thing,
54:10
Speaker 1: but who on occasion does not, does not even think right.
54:16
Speaker 1: I wish I did all the time, but I fresh
54:19
Speaker 1: out of miracles, and therefore you need to know that
54:24
Speaker 1: you need to keep your mind fixed on Christ. Very important.
54:30
Speaker 1: It's crazy way to endscermon, but I'm through. Thank you,
54:35
Speaker 1: Father for saying some things to us in a smooth
54:38
Speaker 1: and calm manner. From this book. We're learning things about
54:41
Speaker 1: you that are helpful, and we are very grateful. We're
54:45
Speaker 1: tired of the pep rallies. We're tired of the Madison
54:50
Speaker 1: Avenue hype. We're weary of so called experts, answer giversracle
55:00
Speaker 1: workers who give the impression that they're at any moment
55:06
Speaker 1: in touch and in power and in control can do
55:10
Speaker 1: it all. As we just read, there are hawkers on
55:16
Speaker 1: the sidewalk, and they're in They're all around us, and
55:19
Speaker 1: they're screaming at us. And they have a way of
55:24
Speaker 1: grabbing our attention and making us believe and follow them.
55:31
Speaker 1: Bring us back to the truth without pride and without defensiveness.
55:35
Speaker 1: May we be confident and calm in the truth of
55:39
Speaker 1: your glorious gospel, and Father, teach us all in the
55:46
Speaker 1: nurturing of our years with you, to walk, to do justice,
55:52
Speaker 1: to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you. Our
55:56
Speaker 1: God in your son's name. Amen.
56:03
Speaker 2: The preceding message, What's a Pastor to Do, was copyrighted
56:07
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty three, and the sound recording was copyrighted
56:10
Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights
56:14
Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide